Rapid technological advances in the communications industry have led to the introduction of new products and services which utilize digital information signals representing data, text and video in addition to voice information signals. The ability to transmit data or information signals as well as voice signals through one such telecommunications system, in particular through the telephone network, is typically accomplished via "in-band" signaling. In-band signaling is a transmission technique in which digital information or data signals are transmitted, in addition to voice signals, through the 3.3 kHz analog bandwidth of a traditional telephone.
In-band signaling is typically performed in one of several ways. For example, Signaling System 7 is used in implementing a caller identification signal to the receiver of an incoming call between the first and second rings. Similarly, the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) allows data transmission at any point during a conversation on the D channel. Other methods for in-band use of voice and data signals include the ADSI standard TR-NWT-001273 which inserts data between voice and the "data under voice."
In-band signaling has been employed in a number of telecommunications services. For example, caller identification schemes have become popular. See, Doughty, U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,956, issued Apr. 15, 1986; Doughty, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,581, issued Nov. 5, 1985; Jones, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,076, issued Jul. 16, 1991; Lottes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,323, issued Jan. 28, 1986; Foster, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,665, issued May 27, 1986; Hashimoto, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 31,789 reissued Jan. 1, 1985. Likewise, methods to provide more information to the calling party have also been developed. See, Demlow, et al., "Information Display Provided to a Calling Party," Ser. No. 07/953,437, filed Sep. 29, 1992, and assigned to the assignee of this invention.
However, the in-band transmission methods developed thus far are not "rich" in that they fail to more fully exploit the advantages or telecommunications systems. For example, the AT&T Videophone allows users to conduct in-band, private conversations and to send video information. Videophone operation is similar to conventional telephone operation. Person A initiates a telephone call which is then answered by Person B. Person A may elect to transmit images (typically of Person A) captured by a video camera in the videophone to Person B by pushing a button. Person B may then elect to display those images on Person B's videophone display. Similarly, Person B may elect to send, and Person A may elect to receive, images captured by Person B's videophone. See, generally, Scott H. Early, Andrew Kuzma and Eric Dorsey, "The Videophone 2500--Video telephony on the Public Switched Telephone Network," AT&T Technical Journal, pp. 22-32, Jan./Feb. 1993.
Importantly, the capabilities of the videophone and telecommunications network are underutilized. First, there is a delay in initializing the video communication between the callers. Second, if one or both callers elect not to receive a video communication, the screen capabilities are wasted. Finally, there is no allowance for an ability to customize a video signal analogous to customized messages on voice answering machines. Thus, no general system exists for transmitting custom video images that permits: 1) imaging or other data signals to be resident with the users; 2) use independent of ISDN availability; 3) two way conversations (i.e. peer-to-peer conversations rather than one way digital imaging); 4) simultaneous transfer of data signals; and 5) capturing the icon to the network terminal.